NELSPRUIT – The Nelspruit police in Mpumalanga Province’s continued fight against illicit cigarettes has yielded significant results, the discovery of large quantities of illicit cigarettes and the arrests of two foreign nationals on Friday. In addition, police uncovered a secret storage facility of illicit cigarettes.

Lieutenant Colonel Magonseni Nkosi, spokesperson for the Hawks in Mpumalanga, said the illicit cigarettes were estimated at R2 million, adding that the discovery followed intelligence. He said the breakthrough was the arrest of two suspected members of an illicit cigarette syndicate, aged 35 and 43, early in the morning.

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Nkosi said the two men were expected to appear in the Nelspruit Magistrate’s Court on Monday, 8 June, facing charges including possession of illicit cigarettes. Investigation was ongoing into the illicit cigarettes.

“They were intercepted in Nelspruit with 50 master cases of illicit cigarettes valued at more than half a million rand loaded in their Toyota Hilux. Their arrest followed a lengthy surveillance operation after information was received regarding illegal activities at a storage facility in White River,” said Nkosi.

He said after police secured a search warrant for the facility, they waited for the opportune moment to act after a delivery had been made.

Nkosi said a multidisciplinary team comprising the Hawks’ Nelspruit-based Serious Commercial Crime Investigation unit, White River K9, and Divergent Operations was mobilised and closely monitored vehicle movements in the area.

“Further investigation led the team to a storage facility in White River to conduct a search in the company of officials from the South African Revenue Service (SARS) Customs division and the Nelspruit Local Criminal Record Centre (LCRC). At the storage facility, investigators recovered 87 master cases, and 45 cartons of illicit cigarettes valued at more than R1.2 million, bringing the total value of the recovered illicit cigarettes close to R2 million,” said Nkosi.

He said the Toyota Hilux bakkie in which the two suspects were travelling was identified as one of the vehicles transporting the illicit cigarettes.